Dana dudley



No Model.)

B. DUDLEY.v METHOD OF GOMPRESSING AIR FOR PNEUMATI GUNS.

No. 407,474. Patented July 23, 1889 (g1/wanton UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANA DUDLEY, OF' LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HOTCHKISS ORDNANOE COMPANY, (LIMITED,) OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

METHOD OFCOMPRESSING AIR FOR PNEUMATIC GUNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 407,474, dated July 23, 1.889.

Application tiled .April 26, 1889.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANA DUDLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Process of Compressing Air for Pneumatic Guns, of which thefollowing is a specification. v

My novel process of compressing air for pneumatic guns consists in compressing air in a suitable chamber by means of an explosive which is ignited thereimthe air-pressure produced by the explosive being communicated by suitable means to a projectile contained in a tube or barrel.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated my invention as applied to a pneumatic gunv of the class described and claimed in my application, Serial No. 308,656, filed April 20, 1889, in which the compression is produced by the direct action of the explosion upon the contained air; but it may also be applied in the form shown in my application, Serial N0. 308,655,1iled April 29, 1889,iri which the compression is eected indirectly through the agency of a piston driven by the explosion.

In the accompanying drawing, which is a vertical cross-section of a pneumatic gun of the class above referred to, A is the air-compression chamber, having a removable breechpiece B, of well-known construction, and provided wit-h the firing mechanism B.

C is the explosive.

. D is a diaphragm of metal or othersuitable material closing the end of the explosion-chamber and held in place by means ot the cap E E, which screws onto and partly over the end of the air-compression chamber A. This diaphragm D, when thus secured in place, tightly closing the chamber A, acts as a pressure safety-valve, the resistance of the diaphragm providing one means for determining the degree of pressure that can be produced within the chamber.

F F is an air-tube open at both ends,which connects the compression-chamber A with the barrel G of the air-gun in the rear of the projectile H, as shown.

I is the breech-piece, removable for the pur- Serial No. 308,654. (No model.)

pose of inserting the projectile. K K are 5o braces to hold the parts together.

The gun having been loaded, as shown in the drawing, with the projectile in barrel G forward of the entrance of the air-tube and the explosive in chamber A, the breech-pieces B and I are closed and diaphragm D firmly secured in place. On the explosion of the explosive C by means of the primer B', or in any other well-known way, the contained air is at once greatly compressed, and this press 6o ure, communicated through tube F to the rear of the projectile in barrel G, discharging the gun.

A gun of the following dimensions will give good results, illustrating the application of my process to a pneumatic gun, in which the diameter of the borc proper (barrel G) is one and one-half inch; length, eighty-fourinches; diameter of air-tube (tube F) is two inches; length, forty inches; diameter' of air-compres- 7o sion chamber Ais threeinches; length, thirtyeight inches weight of projectile is two pounds; of powder-charge, eight ounces; and the resistance of plate D to blowing out, fortyive pounds per square inch.

I do not limit myself to the use of air alone as the elastic agent in performing the work, as I may use gas or gases of greater or less density without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The essence of my invention consists in the production of an air-pressure by means of an l explosive, which air-pressure I may afterward utilize in discharging a projectile.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by-Letters Patent, is

l. The method of discharging a pneumatic gun, which consists in compressing air in a suitable chamber by means of the explosion 9o of an explosive therein, and eommuniating the air-pressure thus produced to the b se of a projectile in another chamber uninterrupted ly connected therewith, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The method of discharging a pneumatic gun, which consists in compressing air in a suitable chamber by exploding an explosive therein, and causing the compressed air so whereby high pressureis developed and the produced to act uninterruptedly upon a pro projectile discharged, substantially as dejectile in a gun-barrel connected therewith to scribed; expel the same, substantially as described. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 5 3. The method of discharging projectiles by my hand in the presence of two subscribing 15 means of the explosion of an explosive in an witnesses. f

air-chamber, which consists in interposing a DANA DUDLEY. confined body of airuninterruptedly between Witnesses: the projectile and such explosive, and then HOWARD PARSONS ELWELL,

xo exploding the explosive in said chamber, GEORGE J. CARR. 

